For example, an optical cable such as a drop cable or an indoor cable is a cable in which a coated optical fiber and tension members are covered by a jacket (sheath), and has a so-called tight structure in which the coated optical fiber and tension members are attached tightly to the cable jacket.
A conventional optical connector to be connected to such an optical cable of the tight structure is provided with a ferrule and a mechanical splice. In this optical connector, a wedge is forced into the mechanical splice which holds the ferrule with a short fiber therein, at a tip, whereby the mechanical splice is brought into an open state. Then a cable jacket is removed from an optical cable to expose a coated fiber, a coating of the coated optical fiber is further removed to expose the optical fiber, and the exposed optical fiber is guided into the mechanical splice in the open state from the rear end thereof. In a state in which the leading end face of this optical fiber is kept as butting the rear end face of the short fiber, the wedge is pulled out to bring the mechanical splice into a closed state, whereby the mechanical splice fixes the butting portion between the short fiber and the optical fiber. Such an optical connector is disclosed, for example, in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 11-160563.